Patient Story – Artie Alley

Artie’s Mum, Chrissie, tells the story of the late-night rescue flight when we had one of our youngest ever passengers on board – seven-day-old Artie.

My little boy Artie got sick when he was seven days old. There were no obvious symptoms. I couldn’t have known he was seriously ill. At our local Warwick hospital, they did what they could but they didn’t have the expertise or equipment to carry out the tests Artie needed. It was 8pm in the evening when they told me they were calling the rescue helicopter.

None of us know when an emergency is going to happen, but when it does, you are so deeply thankful the helicopter rescue service exists.

Within 45 minutes of Artie being put on board the helicopter, he was in Brisbane where he went straight into intensive care. After three lumbar punctures, an Intraosseous injection and an absolute whirlwind, the doctors told us it was a case of suspected meningitis.

I don’t know what would have happened to Artie if he hadn’t got to Brisbane in time. I don’t want to know, because today my little boy is safe with me and he’s healthy.